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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- UC Santa Barbara (No. 8 ESPN/USA Today, No. 9 AP) narrowly averted having its chances of playing at home in the NCAA Tournament Vandalized
Wednesday.
The Gauchos trailed Idaho 69-67 with 4:58 remaining in the first
round of the Big West Conference tournament before rallying for an
82-75 victory.
It was the 49th straight victory over Big West competition for
UC Santa Barbara (28-3), which extended the nation's longest
winning streak to 24 games.
Erin Buescher, the Big West Player of the Year the past two
seasons, scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Gauchos.
Even so, UC Santa Barbara coach Mark French believes his team
must win this tournament to gain at least a No. 4 regional seed -- which would mean home games in the first two rounds.
French acknowledged that the Gauchos' struggles Wednesday, and
in a 72-68 victory in the regular-season finale over a UC Irvine
team that didn't even qualify for the Big West tournament, don't
bode well for the immediate future.
"Our team isn't short on character," French said. "What we're
short of right now is energy and enthusiasm.
"We're a veteran team that feels like it can pull games out of
the fire, but if we put ourselves in that position one too many
times, we'll drop one. And we don't want to drop any right now."
The Gauchos made Idaho (13-16) drop the ball frequently
Wednesday, forcing 30 turnovers -- 21 in the first half.
UC Santa Barbara's overplaying defense also created
opportunities for lobs over the top of the defense, and Idaho's 6-1
senior forward, Alli Neiman, took advantage during a 24-point,
14-rebound performance.
Idaho shot 52.1 percent from the field. It was the first time
since the Gauchos' most recent loss -- a 76-73 defeat at Kansas Dec.
4 -- that an opponent had shot better than 46.6 percent in a game.
"I'm just glad she's a senior," French said of Neiman. "She's
a great player, and we didn't have an answer for her. And we can
play a lot better on defense. I'm not sure if the 30 turnovers was
us or Idaho being nervous at the start."
Even with all the first-half turnovers, UC Santa Barbara didn't
take command until a 17-4 run near the end of the first half put
the Gauchos ahead 40-25. But Idaho rallied, scoring the last six
points of the first half and the first four points of the second.
Idaho took the lead 69-67 with 4:58 remaining on two free throws
by Susan Woolf, who finished with 15 points. But a three-point play
by Buescher and a 3-point goal by freshman Jess Hansen put UC Santa
Barbara in front to stay.
"There weren't too many times during the game we were that
determined," said Buescher, who has to play on the post more often
than usual because Kayte Christensen is out for the rest of the
season with a broken wrist. Christensen was second in rebounding
and fourth in scoring when injured Jan. 25.
"I'm sure their rotation is still affected without Kayte in
there," said Vandals coach Hilary Recknor, whose team lost six of
its last seven regular-season games, but played what she described
as its best game of the season Wednesday. "They'll need to get the
ball inside more and be prepared for pressure" to do well in the
NCAA Tournament.
"I'm not saying we were awesome, but our (zone) defense did a
good job of overloading the strong side and adjusting to the weak
side. But they're a great team and I'm sure it won't take them long
to fix things."
French hopes so.
"If we lose a game here, we'll probably be on the road (for the
first two rounds of the NCAA tournament) again," he said. "We
don't have that great a record in the tournament and that's
something the (selection) committee will probably look at."
UC Santa Barbara lost in the first round to Southwest Missouri
last year, to Illinois in the second round two years ago and to
Tulane in the first round in 1997.
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ALSO SEE
Womens College Basketball Scoreboard
Idaho Clubhouse
Santa Barbara Clubhouse
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